commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

ParanoidAndroid · 2014-06-21 06:24:43

I currently use mostly command-line apps (mpd+ncmpc, ranger, w3m, s-nail, vim+latex, etc), but lately I've been looking to get away from X completely. I think it's bloated and patently unnecessary (just my opinion). I tried looking for alternatives such as Wayland or microxwin that might make up for X's shortcomings, but most of them aren't practical for my purposes. Therefore, I decided to see if I could ditch windowing systems completely and do work from the console.

The problem I'm running into is that I like tiling WMs. I'm rather fond of euclid-wm and my conky+dzen statusbar, and I'd like to maintian something similar if possible. However, I like testing radically unconventional interfaces, provided they're effective... so I wouldn't mind ditching that too if there's a better alternative. Is it possible to have a tiling wm in the console? I took a look at dvtm, but I'm having trouble configuring it -- I've never learned how to edit and recompile the source (a la dwm), and while I like learning new things, my constant fiddling with settings predisposes me towards a separate configuration file. Is there something similar in principle to dvtm that has a simpler means of configuration?

I also need a graphical web-browser, for use with my campus portal, and as far as I know a fully-graphical web browser in the terminal is impossible. I know links can do some sort of wizardry with the framebuffer, but for some reason it doesn't work on my computer (it complains about graphics not being enabled at compile time). On a related note, I currently use W3m, but I'd like to find something similar to it that uses uzbl-style link selection instead of the arrow keys. Does such a marvelous thing exist?

pypi · 2014-06-21 07:04:28

Hi there!

For your tiling WM, there are several options similar to dvtm (though I have only tried 1 personally; vaguely similar may be more accurate).
Take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_multiplexer for a more complete list than I could come up with.

For your web browser, as far as I know Netsurf works in the framebuffer.
However, if you like links you could try to recompile it with framebuffer support; Arch's extra tools should make this incredibly easy. Take a look at the usage section of the wiki page for makepkg for a head start: Makepkg arch wiki page. The existing PKGBUILD could be pulled in via the ABS if need be, and then modified from there.

pypi

bstaletic · 2014-06-21 08:27:53

For the window manager you could try twin (textual window manager). It supports mouse, resizing etc. I'm not sure you want this one, but I don't know of any alternatives that work without X.
For browser try elinks. It supports framebuffer, but you need to tel it how to open pictures.

bwmcn · 2014-06-22 01:25:33

ParanoidAndroid wrote:

I know links can do some sort of wizardry with the framebuffer, but for some reason it doesn't work on my computer (it complains about graphics not being enabled at compile time).

Installing links install two binaries: links, with no graphics enabled, and xlinks, which graphics enabled.

I've been trying to get xlinks working with "xlinks -g -driver fb" but it complains about not being able to find th e gpm mouse. Fooey.

So xlinks is what you're looking for.

ANOKNUSA · 2014-06-22 03:10:37

There's a good chance this will end up in TGN for one good reason: There's already plenty of information if you look for it. For starters, look into Tmux and dvtm. The latter is modeled after dwm and has the imprimatur of the suckless community. If you can't get a browser you like working in the framebuffer, you can launch any browser of your choice in its own X session---no window manager needed.

MoonSwan · 2014-06-22 22:24:48

Try Yaft as an alternative to fbterm? I'm going to give it a go and Trilby is already making it his new birdie-that-won't-eat-his-keyboard.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-06-21 06:24:43

commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

#2 2014-06-21 07:04:28

Re: commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

#3 2014-06-21 08:27:53

Re: commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

#4 2014-06-22 01:25:33

Re: commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

#5 2014-06-22 03:10:37

Re: commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

#6 2014-06-22 22:24:48

Re: commandline-only environment, no X -- is it possible?

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